Deadly Ties Read Free

with pain, anger, and tears. And he’d always been a sucker for female tears. Damn it.
    “I’m sorry, too,” she said. One lone tear trickled over lashes the color of her hair. Her forefinger, long and delicate, reached up and swiped it away. “I am too. And I have to wonder where the hell you were while that girl laid downstairs bleeding to death.”
    She was questioning him?
    “Excuse me?”
    Ms. Reese stood, looking down at him. “Look, you have your questions about me, fine. I have mine about you.” She sniffed. “We’ll call it even.”
    Gavin stood. “Now wait just a minute.”
    “What, don’t like it when the tables are turned?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
    Gavin closed his eyes and counted. It really didn’t help. “As you said, we both have questions. I am sorry for your loss, and I’m sure you’re doing your job.”
    She tried for a smile and he noticed her dimples winking at him. “I don’t know if I should

    9
    waste my energy to even bother with that insult.” Her head shook ruefully. “I should let you go.
    After all, I’d hate to keep such an important doctor.” Her gaze scanned him from the top of his scrubs, where her eyebrows arched at his alien do-rag, to the tips of his shoes. “Of course, one does wonder.”
    He shouldn’t. He knew he shouldn’t. “Wonder what?”
    She only smiled, a thin, straight one, but still her dimples caught him off guard. “Thank you for informing me, Dr. Kinncaid. Social Services will be contacting you for details and what not. And I’m quite certain you can expect some questions from the Gibbonses’ lawyer and probably someone from the district attorney’s office.” She reached down to grab her purse and he noticed her hands shook. Gavin caught of whiff of flowers--honeysuckle.
    Whether or not she did her job, she did care. He could see that in her tears, angry or otherwise, the tremble of her hands.
    He sighed. “I’m sorry for insulting you. I’m certain you did everything you could. I hate to lose a patient, any patient, and especially young ones.”
    She straightened. “Then I suppose we have even more in common than questioning the other. I guess we’ll find out if we both did our jobs, won’t we?”
    Ms. Reese slug the brown leather strap of her purse over her shoulder. “Good afternoon, Dr. Kinncaid.” She walked to the elevators and jabbed the down button repeatedly.
    “Good afternoon, Ms. Reese.” He started to say ‘have a nice day’.
    Yeah, that’d be good. What in the hell was with him? Gavin stood there with his hands on hips, watching the woman step into the elevator and the doors quietly swishing shut.
    Damn woman. So much for his apology. He frowned for a minute. What the hell was the matter with him? He was a doctor. It wasn’t exactly standard procedure to come out, inform someone of fatal news then grill them about job proficiency. And she’d questioned his competency. Gavin wasn’t a braggart, but he knew he was one of the most successful doctors in his field for his age. He glared at the shut elevator doors, wondering at what had just happened and his total lack of tact, lack of control.
    And if Gavin Kinncaid was anything, it was in control.
    It was only then, he realized she talked like Jesslyn, his sister-in-law. Ms. Taylor Reese smiled her vowels. Maybe she was from Texas. On that absurd thought came another, more pressing one.
    Social Services and lawyers. He shook his head as he turned and shoved the door back open through which he’d entered the waiting room. Hell. He needed to call the Chief of Staff and let her know what was going on.
    Still cursing, he walked back up the hallway. The battered face of a young dark haired girl haunted him.
    So much for his day off.

     
    * * * *
     
    Journal Entry I know I said I thought this journaling stuff was stupid, but I’ve kinda gotten used to it.
    Dr. Petropolis was right. It helps to write things out sometimes, so I guess I’ll keep doing